Relationship to Conduct, Part 2

Paul in Romans 3 says the throat is 'an open sepulchre' — roll away the stone and the rottenness bursts forth. Martin applies it: when men open their mouths the stench of rotten flesh comes out, showing the corruption within.

He said sin is a very practical reality and I going to prove it to you from the Psalms and the prophets So he starts then in verse 11 with what we might call the effects of sin in the mind and in the heart There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God, they are all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable, there's none that doeth good, no, not so much as one. and he goes on to enlarge in verses 13 through 14 of the sins of the mouth and of the speech apparatus the throat is an open sepulcher when you open up a sepulcher take away the stone all the rottenness...

13:19 - 14:06 Read in full sermon

Children who have been bumped in the head see spots superimposed on every image. Martin uses this to picture the godly man: the fear of God is superimposed on every object he sees — curtain, tree, workbench, classmate.

He says, it's this noxious plant in the heart of man, no fear of God, before their eye. That is, as they view life, as they live life, as they carry out their desires and ambitions, they do so devoid of the fear of God. How many of you ever had spots before your eyes? Some of you kids, you had spots before your eyes?

15:58 - 16:26 Read in full sermon

What would you think of Pastor Martin if he looked out his picture window at 25 Meadowbrook Lane and watched the neighborhood bully beat up his son without lifting a finger? The saints in Psalm 10 feel the same way about God's apparent silence.

think of me as a father i could look out the picture window there 25 meadowbrook lane and see the neighborhood billy beating up my son and i don't run out of the house and say you get your hands off him, fella, or you'll have my hands on him. What would you think of me as a father? If I could see my son kicked around and abused by a bully, and I had the power to do something and didn't. Wouldn't you have some questions about the depth of my love to my children? Sure you would.

23:29 - 23:55 Read in full sermon

The point: Be suspicious of any thought pattern that tries to push God out of your mind or reshape Him into someone more comfortable with your sin — that is the psychology of the wicked man.

The wicked man cannot fully push God out of his mind, so he tells himself God is a little short on memory and a little nearsighted — reshaping God to fit the sin he is determined to commit.

He will never see it. He tries to limit God's omniscience. You see what he's doing? In verse 4, he's simply trying to push God out of his mind, but he can't totally do that.

27:19 - 27:31 Read in full sermon

Climb on the roof with a pinch bar and everyone sees what you are doing; or slip around back and work patiently at the foundation stones. The devil takes the second route — and what we see in America is the result of generations of foundation work.

There are two ways to destroy a house, or lots of ways, but two main ways. If I saw a structure that I wanted to get rid of, I could arm myself with a pinch bar, a good claw hammer, and I could climb up on top of that thing, and in an hour's time, you'd pretty well know what I was out to do. I could rip off a lot of shingles in an hour's time, and if I had a 16-pound sledge, knock down some bricks from the chimney, so anybody going by would say, that fellow's out to destroy that house. There's another way I could do it.

42:28 - 43:01 Read in full sermon

The point: Resist with holy violence anything that lessens the fear of God in your heart — any small erosion prepares the soil for deliberate sin.

'You could never take her in violation of my law till you pushed me out of your mind.' God's charge against David through Nathan illustrates the front-line reality: sin always follows a prior eviction of God from the thoughts.

in violation of my law till you pushed me out of your mind.

51:01 - 51:06 Read in full sermon